The greatest threat of water making its way into your basement comes from excessive water in the soil around your home and under your foundation. As the soil becomes saturated it can also find its way into compromised areas of your basement through a process called seepage. The most common locations for seepage to occur are at any foundation cracks or seams of your home, such as basement windows, window wells, around pipes and plumping fixtures, gaps around sump pits, and where your concrete floor meets the foundation wall. Reducing the chance of seepage is the wisest thing you can do to prevent foundation problems caused by excessive water. There are a number of things you can do to proactively prevent seepage, and in today’s blog we’re going to focus on how snow can play a part in seepage.

Realize that snow is, very literally, frozen water, and any type of excessive water is your foundation’s number one enemy. During snowy months, avoid shoveling snow into a pile near your foundation. Doing so is a recipe for disaster! As that snow melts, each cubic foot equals over 7 gallons of water. Therefore, those snow drifts can contain multiple gallons of harmful water as the spring and/or thaw arrive. Any snow piled up against your home becomes free flowing water pouring directly down to your foundation. Even homes that typically don’t experience issues can fall prey if presented with a sudden surge of water.